I am talking food.
A game my older sister used to play with me when I was little was 'taste testing'. I would always know there would be hot english mustard in there somewhere, but I could not resist the blindfolded guessing game that tested my senses.
So I played it with B recently, and he loved it. I assured him there would be nothing he didn't like on the menu. I was flattered by his trust. And I admit that for a moment I really wanted to put something sour, or chile hot on the plate. Kind of like when you hold a hose, you just want to spray people with water. But I resisted and didn't put anything nasty on the tasting plate, I stuck to his well liked staples.
B was blind-folded with a tea towel and given a taste of each item with a drink of water in between.
clockwise from bottom
cashew nuts, berry fruit flakes, chocolate freckle, yoghurt on spoon, cheese, white bread and cherry tomato in the middle.
He had no problem with identifying the yoghurt, freckle, bread or tomato, however it took him ages to recall their correct names. And he couldn't think of the name for the cashew nuts or the fruit flakes, but knew what they were. It was only the cheese he had no idea about.
I found it really interesting that he couldn't think of the words for the foods. Was that because he didn't have the visual prompt of the item? I asked him to use describing words about the textures and flavours he was experiencing. My favourite lines were.
"They were rough, but they were smooth, they had sugar on them making them rough" fruit flakes
"It's rough on the top and smooth on the bottom because all the hundreds and thousands have made it rough." freckle
Find out what other Mums are playing with at childhood 101
10 comments:
Hi There,
Visiting from We Play. What a fun activity. You could nearly do that everyday of the week and still come up with new things to touch, feel and taste.
Life is too fair in your house. You could have teased him a little with some salt or baking soda, it didn't have to be mustard or a pickled onion. Great post and encouragement to discover what the little ones tongues can do!
Ooooh! This might be lunch tomorrow!
I had never thought of playing this, but as food lovers, all 3 of us, I think this could be a great regular game.
Strange that he had trouble with the names, I wonder if it was the lack of visual information.
I remember we did something similar Psychology class. My teacher bred a type of chicken that produces a meat with a bluish tinge. No one else was game enough to eat it, but it did just taste like chicken. Blue is a danger colour in the animal kingdom, anything blue is usually poisonous.
What a great idea CF, wondering if my ferals are too old for this? Might steer clear of blue cheese though amandab. ;)
No way am I leaving off the blue cheese! My Princess wats it for lunch EVERY day!
Yes, she is an odd child :)
I remember doing this at school when I was a kid and having raw potato to taste. I'm not sure if it's a good memory or not!?! I wonder if my son would be brave enough to do this (better not tell him the potato story).
Kylie, yes this is really fun, anticipating the reaction of the taster is fantastic, I hold my breathe and giggle with expectation.
Oldegg, I love the baking soda idea
Amandab, I think your princess has great taste, blue cheese is a fav of mine.
Foxy, I dont think you are ever to old to play this game, particularly if you have a feral side
Catherine, raw potato sounds just like something my sister would make me eat. I always knew it was going to be bad when she started to snicker and then laugh as it hit my tongue. But now as adults i eat a much bigger range of food than she does. So I figure I have really won the game.
How interesting that he had trouble remembering the names without the visual clues. It's funny how our brains work. I bet you fired up a few new neurons with this activity as he learnt to associate tastes with names as well as the visual. A great reason to try it I reckon.
This can evolve into a great charting activity in a pre-school class. I usually just use three different fruits or breads or other food groups. Everychild gets to taste and then pick food 1, 2 or3. We chart and then add up tallies and declare the winner. Lastly we reveal what the foods were that they tasted(they love yelling out their guesses). The next day we revisit the taste test and try to think of words that discribe the foods as you did:smooth,crunchy, etc. The children love this activity. Thanks for reminding me. I think we will do a taste test soon. :)
That looks like a lot ,of fun. I bet my girls would love it so have added it to our ever growing 'To Do' list.
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